A Fond Farewell to Lima

On our final day in Lima, we met as a group in the courtyard of the school ready to venture outside of the Lima city limits to see some ruins.

Pacific Ocean on the drive out of Lima

Villa El Salvador – seaside shanty town on the Pacific Coast

A seaside bus ride took our group, along with 15 Santa Ursula students, to Pachacamac – an extensive complex of adobe pyramids about 30 kn south of Lima in the Lurin Valley. Pachacamac was the leading pilgrimage center on the central coast and home to the most feared & respected oracle in the Andes. The name Pachacamac in Quechua translates to Lord of the World. Both the Huari and the local Inca empires respected the oracle.

Pachacamac

We had a guide (in English!) who toured us through the museum and taught us about the various pre-Columbian cultures in Peru. After learning about the history, we were ready to take on the hike in the ruins.

Pachacamac museum tour – Pre Columbian timeline

Visiting the Museum

The excavations of the site, all of which have been done in the last 60 years, revealed ramps and entranceways to temples and buildings. The Palacio de Las Mamacuna, the enclosure built for holy women by the Incan, can be seen to the right with the looming Temple of the Sun in the distance ahead.

Palacio de Las Mamacunaenclosure for holy women, often held in anticipation of sacrifice

We hiked around the Temple of the Sun and got an excellent view of the Pacific Ocean and an island shaped like a whale that is popular in children’s legends here in Peru.

Temple of the Sun

Pinky & Rylee posing in front of “Whale Island” in the Pacific Ocean

After returning the school, the girls and their hosts gathered for a going away party and the faculty members said goodbye to their hostesses. It was a beautiful way to close this first visit between our schools. The spirits of St. Angela and St. Ursula were strong and we look forward to welcoming our sisters to Wilmington in 2017.